Friday, September 26, 2014

AC/DC issued a statement on Sept. 24 announcing that guitarist Malcolm Young "will not be returning to the band" due to "the nature of his condition." No further details were provide, however Young is reportedly in full-time care in a nursing home facility in Sydney, Australia specializing in dementia. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, a source connected to the Young family says the 61-year-old is receiving care in a residential home specializing in the treatment of dementia, believed to be Lulworth House in Sydney's Elizabeth Bay. In April, the band announced that Young, a co-founding member of AC/DC, was "taking a break to focus on his health." AC/DC, which includes lead guitarist Angus Young, vocalist Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams, will release their new album Rock or Bust on Dec. 2, and will launch a world tour behind the new LP in 2015. Stevie Young, nephew of founding members Malcolm and Angus Young and who played guitar on the band's new album, will join them on the tour. The 11-track Rock or Bust is the group's first new album in six years, following 2008's Black Ice. It was recorded in Spring 2014 at Warehouse Studio in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien and mixed by Mike Fraser. "Play Ball," the first single from the album, will be heard as part of Turner Sports' Major League Baseball Postseason coverage from Sept. 27. - AP/New Musical Express, 9/24/14.

Bob Seger first full-length LP in eight years, Ride Out, drops on Oct. 14 and features rockers like "Detroit Made," about the auto industry. Ride Out's 10 tracks include covers of John Hiatt's "Detroit Made" and the Wilco/Billy Bragg/Woody Guthrie collaboration "California Stars," Steve Earle's "The Devil's Right Hand" and "Adam and Eve" by Australian singer/songwriters Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson. The 10-song standard edition will be filled out with the Seger originals "Hey Gypsy," "Ride Out," "It's Your World," "All of the Roads," "You Take Me In" and "Gates of Eden," while the deluxe edition will include "Listen" with guest Vince Gill, "The Fireman's Talkin'" and "Let the Rivers Run." Seger and his Silver Bullet Band have announced they'll kick off their Ride Out Tour 2014/2015 on Nov. 19 in Saginaw, Mich., also playing Bangor, Me. (11/22), Halifax, N.S. (11/24), St. John, N.B. (11/26) and Boston (11/29) in November. Future dates on the the 22-city North American leg include Cleveland, Oh. (12/4), Chicago (12/11), St. Louis (12/13), New York City (12/19), Toronto (1/24), Atlanta (1/31), Tampa (2/5), Dallas (2/12), Houston (2/14) and Phoenix (2/19) before wrapping in Los Angeles on Feb. 27. While on the road during 2013, Seger -- who turns 70 in May 2015 -- has said this may be his final album and tour. - Billboard, 9/25/14.

Barbra Streisand has become the only recording artist to release No. 1 albums in six consecutive decades as her latest album Partners debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart in the third week of September. The Columbia Records effort sold 196,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 21 according to Nielsen SoundScan, and also marks Streisand's 10th No. 1 album. The larger-than-expected sales launch of Partners can be attributed to publicity Streisand generated during its first week of release (which included rare TV appearances by the diva on The Tonight Show, Good Morning America and The View) , an attractive $7.99 price for the set at iTunes and Amazon MP3, and the album's all-star guest list, which includes Josh Groban, Blake Shelton, Michael Buble and Billy Joel. With a 10th No. 1, she ties for the fourth-most No. 1's in history with Elvis Presley (who is also featured on Partners), behind the Beatles (19), Jay Z (13) and Bruce Springsteen (11). Streisand's first No. 1 album came almost exactly 50 years ago when People hit No. 1 on the chart dated Oct. 31, 1964. She last hit the top with 2009's Love Is the Answer. - Billboard, 9/24/14.

Led Zeppelin fans continue to clamor for a reunion after the band's one-off show in London a few years ago, but it's easy to understand Robert Plant's resistance. Reinventing himself on his 2007 Alison Krauss collab, Raising Sand, and on projects with ex-girlfriend Patty Griffin, the singer made some of his best work ever. His latest, Lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar, returns to the world-music fusion of 2005's Mighty Rearranger with his Strange Sensation band (now reconfigured as the Sensational Space Shifters). It lacks the focused grace of his country experiements, but it's Plant's hardest-rocking set in a decade, and as he comes home to something like progressive rock it's hard not to think of his other band. Keep hope alive, Zep fans. Lullaby dropped via Nonesuch Records on Sept. 9...... The title track on Standing in the Breach,Jackson Browne's first studio album in six years, started as a song about the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti -- but came to encompass much more than that. "It has to do with where our world is broken," Browne says. "It became a song about poverty everywhere. The entire album is about relationships in the light of what's happening in the world right now." Recorded in L.A. with his longtime touring band, the disc takes on everything from our moribund political system to the pollution of our oceans. But it kicks off with a new recording of "The Birds of St. Marks," a tune Jackson wrote in 1967. "I always thought it would work as a Byrds song," he says. "But I got sick of waiting for them to re-form, so I did it myself." Standing in the Breach drops via Inside Recordings on Oct. 7....... Stevie Nicks' new album 24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault, also hits stores Oct. 7 and is a labor of love: a journey through her past in tunes dating back to 1969. These are stray songs she wrote over the years bu tnever recorded until now. "I used to give my songs away," Nicks says. "I'd write a new one, put it on a cassettte, than someone would say, 'Hey, can I have a copy?'" Some of the tunes are so personal, not even the rest of Fleetwood Mac have ever heard them. "'Lady' was the first piano song I ever wrote," Nicks says. "It was a song I never played for anybody. Nobody but Lindsey [Buckingham] had ever heard it." She put the album together quickly, with a crew of session players in Nashville. "We had three five-day weeks to get the tracks," Nicks says. "These are union people -- they don't mess around. So I had to get up at 9:00 in the morning, which for me is just ridiculous....... Columbia Records will release Pink Floyd's first official release in two decades , The Endless River, on Nov. 10. It finds David Gilmour pulling together a disc of "mainly ambient and instrumental music" that draws from 20 hours of material recorded during sessions for 1994's The Division Bell. The 18-song double-album features band members Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright, who died in 2008. Roger Waters, who left the group in 1985, isn't involved. Gilmour says in the release that the band "added new parts, rerecorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st-century Pink Floyd album," and Mason says it's "a tribute to Rick...it really brought home to me what a special player he was." The LP's lone non-instrumental track, "Louder Than Words," features lyrics written by Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson. - Rolling Stone/AP..... Just in time for Halloween (Oct. 27) comes The Killer's latest effort -- Jerry Lee Lewis's new album Rock & Roll Time is a covers album of such chestnuts as "Little Queenie" and "Folsom Prison Blues" with help from friends like Keith Richards. - Rolling Stone, 9/25/14...... Bob Dylan obsessives have clamored for the complete Basement Tapes ever since word of the sessoins leaked 46 years ago. They're finally getting their wish on Nov. 11 when Columbia releases The Basement Tapes Complete: Bootleg Series Vol. 11, easily the fall's most exciting archival release. It contains 138 songs Dylan and the Band cut in upstate New York in 1968 -- 30 of which have never surfaced, including the Dylan-penned "Wild Wolf." "They were experimenting, fooling around trying to find a new voice," says author Greil Marcus. "It wasn't just a session. This was a whole body of work." Meanwhile, Dylan has just been chosen as the 2015 MusiCares' Person of the Year by the Recording Academy, the sponsor of the Grammy Awards. Dylan will be honored at the 25th annual benefit gala dinner and concert, set to be held Friday, Feb. 6, two days before the 57th Grammy Awards ceremony, which will air live on CBS from L.A.'s Staples Center on Feb. 8. - Rolling Stone/The Hollywood Reporter

Spain's film academy has selected the movie Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados [Living Is Easy (With Eyes Closed)], about a Spanish man's quest to meet John Lennon, as its entry for best foreign language film at the 2015 Oscars. Directed by David Trueba, the film tells the true story of an English-language teacher from Spain who traveled to the southern province of Almeria in 1966 to try to meet the late Beatles star, who was staying there. The movie takes its name from the lyrics of the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever," which Lennon began writing in Almeria. The U.S. film academy will select finalists for the Oscars in January, with the awards announced a month later. Spain has won four Oscars for best foreign language film. In other Beatles-related news, Paul Simon performed the George Harrison-penned Beatles tune "Here Comes the Sun" on Sept. 23 as part of "George Harrison Week" on the TBS late night talk show Conan. Simon is no stranger to performing the hit, having sung the 1969 classic at various festivals and concerts over the years, most notably on Saturday Night Live in 1976, joined by Harrison himself. Meanwhile, a portion of the famous Ed Sullivan Show set displayed during the Beatles' US television debut is expected to command as much as $337,000 when it goes up for auction during the The Fest for Beatles Fans, which takes place in Los Angeles from Oct. 10-12. The set is signed by all four Beatles and is currently owned by Wayne Johnson, owner of Rockaway Records. Among the other items up for purchase includes a copy of the band's 11th US release Yesterday and Today featuring the rare "Butcher" cover, which is priced at $4,500, and the band's first US contract with Vee Jay Records, on sale for $100,000. The Fest for Beatles Fans was started in 1974 to mark the 10th anniversary of the band's first visit to the US. In its history, the event has accepted donated musical instruments from all four Beatles, which have been auctioned for charity. Earlier in September, a sculpture of Eleanor Rigby made of 1 million pounds' worth of used UK bank notes went on display in Liverpool. Created by Leonard Brown, the five foot two inch statue is made of thousands of shredded 5, 10 and 20 pound notes, which were supplied by the Bank Of England in the form of pellets. - AP/Billboard/New Musical Express, 9/24/14...... The Who have just revealed "Be Lucky," their first new song in eight years. "Be Lucky" references such bands as AC/DC and Daft Punk in its lyrics, with a robot style auto-tune effect used after the line about the French duo. The song appears on the forthcoming compilation album Who Hits 50 and is their first new material since 2006 album Endless Wire. The track was recorded with bassist Pino Pallodino, drummer Zak Starkey and keyboardist Mick Talbot. The Who has announced they'll launch a 9-date UK "Who Hits 50" anniversary tour in Glasgow on Nov. 30, also visiting Leeds (12/2), Nottingham (12/5), Birmingham (12/7), Newcastle (12/9), Liverpool (12/11), Manchester (12/13), Cardiff (12/15) and London (12/17). Pete Townshend says the band will play "hits, picks, mixes and misses" on the tour that date back to the band's early years when they were known as The High Numbers. - New Musical Express, 9/26/14...... Gospel legend Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers will celebrate her recent 75th birthday with a once-in-a-lifetime concert in her hometown of Chicago on Nov. 19. Staples will take the stage at the Chicago Auditorium Theatre for a star-studded concert featuring such diverse acts as Gregg Allman, Ryan Bingham, Eric Church, Patty Griffin, Glen Hansard, Taj Mahal, Michael McDonald, Buddy Miller, Aaron Neville, Widespread Panic, Grace Potter and Mary Stuart. Staples will come on stage to collaborate with a number of the guests throughout the evening. The Staple Singers topped the U.S. charts in June 1972 with their inspirational number "I'll Take You There." - Billboard, 9/25/14...... Cat Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf, is canceling his New York performance just weeks after announcing a six-city tour, blaming it on the Big Apple's ticket scalpers. Yusuf posted on his Facebook page on Sept. 24 that he would not keep the NYC engagement because its requirement for paper tickets has led to exorbitant resale prices. Yusuf says he is a longtime supporter of paperless tickets "and avoiding scalpers," and hopes to return to NYC in the future. Yusuf announced earlier in September that he planned a concert tour behind the blues album he's releasing on Oct. 27. The concerts are his first series of shows in North America since 1976. - AP, 9/24/14...... An audience member who suffered a broken nose as a result of being hit in the face by a soccer ball kicked by Rod Stewart during an Oct. 2012 concert at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas filed a lawsuit against Stewart on Sept. 24 in Nevada's Clark County District Court. Mostafa Kashe's civil negligence complaint alleges that he didn't expect to be hit in the face by a ball kicked by the raspy-voiced rocker from the stage, and as a result of lingering injuries the 53-year-old electrical engineer from Diamond Bar, Calif., is seeking unspecified damages of at least $10,000 plus attorney fees. His attorney, Larry Weinsteen, said Kashe and his wife were big Stewart fans who traveled to Las Vegas primarily for the concert. The lawyer said his client was treated by a hotel medic and filed an injury report with Caesars before being left with "substantial" injuries including an impaired sense of smell. Representatives of Stewart, promoter AEG Live and Caesars Entertainment Corp. have yet to respond to the suit. Stewart, 69, is a longtime soccer fan and club league player and frequently kicks autographed balls into the audience at his shows. - AP, 9/24/14...... Bruce Springsteen's first seven albums are being remastered and reissued for a new deluxe box set that's set to drop Nov. 17. Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984 starts with Greetings From Asbury Park and continues through Born in the U.S.A. Only Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town have already gotten the remaster treatment, which occurred on CD only. Engineer Bob Ludwig worked with Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott to remaster the albums, which were transferred from the original analogue masters using the Plangent Process playback system. None of the seven albums have been remastered on vinyl before. The set will be available in both CD and vinyl. - Billboard, 9/24/14...... Phil Collins released a statement on Sept. 23 clarifying that he has no plans to return to the concert stage at this time, despite the fact that he will perform three to four songs at a charity event for the Little Dreams Foundation in Miami in December. Collins hasn't performed a show in four years, and the Dec. 6 event, he clarified, will not be a full-on Phil Collins show either. "I will be performing three or four songs semi-acoustically, and maybe one more with my 13 year old son Nicolas on drums, but that's all as I am not ready to return to the full concert stage at this time," Collins said in the statement. - Billboard, 9/23/14...... Whitesnake, featuring former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale, will release Live In '84 - Back To The Bone, a complete celebration of the group's classic line-up, on Nov. 7 in the UK and on Nov. 11 in North America. Culled from audio and video recordings and unheard demos from the private collection of Whitesnake leader and vocalist Coverdale, the release offers an ultra-rare collection of material, performed by the band's acclaimed 83-84 line-ups. Bonus content features legendary keyboardist Jon Lord performing his last show ever with Whitesnake on video and also the bonus CD. - Noble PR, 9/25/14...... Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Blondie with "A Blondie Exhibition." Running though Sept. 29 at the Chelsea Hotel Storefront Gallery (222 West 23rd Street), the exhibit is free and open to the public, from 1-8 p.m. daily. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/24/14.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Paul McCartney has posted a video online asking members of the public to skip eating meat one day a week in order to help reduce their carbon footprint. Sir Paul is making the plea in conjunction with with the upcoming United Nations Global Summit, which is set for late September, and has launched a "Meat-Free Mondays" campaign in association with British Prime Minister David Cameron's climate advisor, Gregory Barker. More information can be found at MeatFreeMondays.com. Meanwhile, Macca is set to release an expanded edition of 2013's New. The new deluxe version includes two CDs and a DVD, and is presented as a hardback book. The second disc includes previously unreleased tracks "Hell To Pay" and "Demons Dance" as well as "Struggle," a song previously only available as a bonus track in Japan. Released in October 2013, New was McCartney's 16th solo studio album. In more McCartney news, a massive new McCartney tribute CD will include contributions from the likes of Bob Dylan ("Things We Said Today"), Billy Joel ("Maybe I'm Amazed," "Live and Let Die"), Willie Nelson ("Yesterday") and The Cure ("Hello Goodbye"), organizers announced on Sept. 9. Up to 42 songs will be featured in The Art of McCartney, and the release will be available in various formats including a two-CD package and box set. Due on Nov. 18, the CD is the brainchild of Los Angeles producer Ralph Sall. Sall says he's been working on the project since 2003, and on many of the cuts, the artists are backed by McCartney's current band. - New Musical Express/AP, 9/18/14..... In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr tells the UK's New Musical Express that he believes that bands will always be popular in music and that he has "never believed" that rock music is dying out. Starr says that he doesn't think the rock genre will disappear, and that bands will always "come through in the end." Speaking about his own tour, he added: "I'm always touring. I love to play -- that's why I do this. A lot of the bands wanna do it to be famous. But I wanna do it to play. That was all my dream was about, and then we became famous." - NME, 9/17/14.

A new Queen album entitled Queen Forever and featuring three previously unreleased tracks with Freddie Mercury on vocals -- including a collaboration with Michael Jackson -- will be released in November 2014. The Queen and Jackson duet, "There Must Be More To Life Than This," was written by Mercury during sessions for Queen's 1981 album Hot Space and the band recorded a backing track, but the song was never completed. Mercury later visited Jackson in Los Angeles, where Jackson's vocals were recorded but the song remained uncompleted. In 1984, Queen attempted to revive the track during sessions for their The Works album, but again it was not finished and Mercury's own version of the song surfaced on his debut solo album, 1985's Mr Bad Guy. This new production of the ballad uses Queen's original backing track and Mercury and Jackson's vocals, and was produced by William Orbit. Also featured on Queen Forever, which will be released both as a 20-track single CD and an extended 36-track, 2-CD set, will be previously unheard tracks "Let Me In Your Heart Again" and "Love Kills." Queen guitarist Brian May describes the rest of the album as "things that we have collected together that are representative of our growth rather than the big hits." - NME, 9/19/14...... In other Michael Jackson news, a federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit against Hologram USA owner Alki David, whose company produced a holographic re-creation of Jackson that was featured at the Billboard Music Awards. In court, David attacked those who had created the spectacle for allegedly infringing his patents rights. And through the media, he hyped the various applications for the projection technology. A day after the May 18 Billboard Music Awards, David gave an interview with CNN that aired with the caption, "Michael Jackson Hologram: How'd They Do It?" Pulse Entertainment then brought a $10 million lawsuit against David, charging that he "falsely claimed credit for creating and developing the visual effects spectacle in a nationally-televised interview on CNN." Now U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson notes that the allegation of misrepresentation is grounded in fraud and means that Pulse has the burden of specifying the statements it claims were false. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/19/14.

Longtime David Bowie producer Tony Visconti confirmed to CNN that David Bowie will be releasing more new music in the future. "There's gonna be another album, definitely soon," Visconti said in an interview on Sept. 19. In July 2014, Bowie put rumors that his 2012 comeback LP The Next Day was just a one-off affair by revealing he was working on another brand new album. But Bowie fans shouldn't hold their breath for the Thin White Duke's return to the stage. "I don't think he's gonna busk in the Tube... on the Underground. As far as a concert is concerned I have no idea," Visconti said. "He clearly didn't promote The Next Day with a concert and whether he does for the next one I don't know and I couldn't predict that -- it's up to him. It's whatever takes his fancy." While there is no word on when the new Bowie album might drop, a Bowie greatest hits compilation called Nothing Has Changed featuring a brand-new song produced by Visconti -- "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)" -- will hit stores on Nov. 17. In other Bowie news, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has declared that Sept. 23 will be David Bowie Day in the Windy City, as the Bowie retrospective exhibition 'David Bowie Is...' begins its run at the Chicago Museum Of Contemporary Art. Emanuel noted that Bowie is hailed as "an undisputed global icon boasting a catalogue of 26 critically acclaimed studio albums," whose "remarkable half-century career has bridged cultures and faiths while both transcending and fortifying the music, art, fashion & design, and theatrical canons." - Billboard/NME, 9/19/14.

Three backup dancers in Cher's "Dressed to Kill" tour have sued the singer, claiming they were wrongfully fired from her current tour and that Cher engaged in racial discrimination. Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 18, the wrongful termination lawsuit alleges Cher remarked that there were "too many dark-skinned dancers on her tour" and instructed her choreographer to "hire a white dancer over a qualified black performer." The suit states the dancers were fired from the tour after informing managers that another dancer assaulted an unidentified woman in a hotel room while on tour. Two of the plaintiffs, who are black, say their race was a motivating factor in their dismissal. The third dancer cites age discrimination as a factor in her firing. Cher's publicist Liz Rosenberg denies the allegations and says there is no truth to them. - AP, 9/18/14...... Meanwhile another famous diva from the '60s and '70s, Aretha Franklin, is preparing to release a new album on Sept. 30, produced by Arista Records president Clive Davis. Davis has previously produced Franklin and says she has "always held a very special place in my heart...She's universally recognized to be the greatest singer of all time" and that the new LP shows Franklin "in absolutely peak form." Aretha's new album is purely and simply sensational," Davis says. "She's on fire and vocally in absolutely peak form. What a thrill to see this peerless artist still showing the way, still sending shivers up your spine, still demonstrating that all contemporary music needs right now is the voice. What a voice." The album's name has not yet been announced. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Lawyers representing Led Zeppelin have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the heirs of founding Spirit member Randy Craig Wolfe alleging that Led Zep used Wolfe's song "Taurus" as inspiration for "Stairway to Heaven." Led Zeppelin's attorneys are basing their request on the simple reason that the members of the band are all British. Wolfe's heirs filed their lawsuit in Pennsylvania, and Led Zep's legal team say that "the individual defendants are British citizens residing in England, own no property in Pennsylvania and have no contacts with Pennsylvania, let alone ties sufficient to render them essentially at home here. Under established case law, no good faith basis exists to argue the Court has general jurisdiction over them." In a separate motion to dismiss, "Stairway" publisher Warner/Chappell Music also mentions that the plaintiff is relying "on a California Trust and his allegations that its ownership of Taurus is based on the claimed invalidity of Wolfes 1967 songwriter and recording contracts." - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14...... Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne recently revealed on her daytime television series The Talk that as a 27-year-old young single woman she once cut her wrists in an effort to prove how much she loved (her then-boyfriend, now-husband) Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne. After telling Ozzy, "I'd do anything for you," Sharon said she decided to prove the depth of her commitment to Ozzy by grabbing a steak knife and slashing her wrists. "Unfortunately for me, I kind of went too deep and it wouldn't stop bleeding so I'm saying, 'Dear, I think we'd better call an ambulance.'" Sharon says she now laughs about the whole thing, though it doesn't seem particularly funny -- she was apprently admitted to a psychiatric hospital after the incident. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Bruce Springsteen will be among the headliners for the eighth edition of Stand Up for Heroes, an annual music and comedy event honors returning service members, veterans and their families. Stand Up for Heroes is one of the centerpiece events of the 11th annual New York Comedy Festival, running Nov. 5-9 at venues throughout New York City with more than 200 comedians performing. The group has raised more than $21 million to help post-9/11 injured service members and their families. This year's event will also feature Louis C.K., John Oliver and Brian Williams. - Billboard, 9/16/14...... A pair of new books about soul legend James Brown by two of his children offer a disturbing look into the world of the Godfather of Soul, with graphic descriptions of abuse and unbelievable tales of family murders going back 40 years. In her new memoir Cold Sweat, Brown's daughter Yamma Brown graphically describes how the legendary singer beat his second wife, Dee Dee, and recounts her own abusive marriage. She writes the abuse from her dad sounded "like thunder rolling through the house" as her mom was thrown against walls. "After that, the house would go completely quiet. The sound of the silence was the worst because that's when Deanna and I would wonder if our mother were alive or dead and if we would be next." Meanwhile a book by Yamma's half-brother Daryl Brown, Inside the Godfather, makes wild claims about Brown's death, suggesting that the singer was murdered and that other family members were also murdered. "My father was murdered," alleges Daryl Brown. He suggests it might have been done by members of Brown's inner circle but offers no concrete evidence. Instead, he asserts, "I just have a gut feeling that he was killed." Yamma Brown's book has been called "a courageous and often unsettling look at the not-so-glamorous consequences of being the offspring of a major celebrity," while Daryl's Brown's work has been dismissed for its hyperbolic claims of murder and its obsession with settling scores with rivals in Brown's inner circle. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/17/14...... Saturday Night Fever and Grease star John Travolta has dismissed allegations suggesting he enjoyed a steamy gay affair with his former pilot, insisting all of his supposed former lovers are simply chasing a big pay day. Travolta is currently fighting legal action from Douglas Gotterba, who is seeking to write a tell-all book about an alleged romance with the actor, which he claims took place while he was working for the star's Alto aircraft company in the 1980s. The 60-year-old actor has long been subjected to speculation over his sexuality, despite being married to actress Kelly Preston since 1991, and he is convinced Gotterba's reasons for going public with his accusations are simply rooted in money -- just like his previous accusers. "This is every celebrity's Achilles heel. It's just about people wanting money. That's all. It happens on many levels," he told the website TheDailyBeast.com. He added that he "let all the media stuff go a long time ago because I can't control it... I think that's why it (gay rumours) persists, to some degree." - WENN.com, 9/17/14.

Grand Ole Opry star George Hamilton IV, best known for such country hits as "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" and "Abiline," passed away at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital on Sept. 17 at the age of 77. Hamilton is also remembered as one of the first Nashville-based artists to blend country with folk, recording many songs by up-and-coming songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. Born in Winston Salem, N.C., on July 19, 1937, Hamilton recorded the John D. Loudermilk-penned "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for a small regional label named Colonial Records while still attending college, and it climbed to No. 6 on the Bilboard Hot 100 in 1956. The flip side of the single, "If You Dont Know," was very much in the rockabilly fashion. The record was acquired by ABC / Paramount, where Hamilton would remain through 1960. He would place nine more releases on the Billboard pop chart, with the biggest being 1958's "Why Don't They Understand," which hit No. 10. In 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry soon after. His country hits continued throughout the decade, with the biggest being 1963's "Abilene," (also written by Loudermilk) which topped the country charts for four weeks and hit No. 15 on the charts. Hamilton also enjoyed worldwide popularity, and earned the moniker "The International Ambassador of Country Music." He also hosted a weekly syndicated show in Canada, and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. His last album was 2011's In The Heart of Texas, recorded on the Heart of Texas label. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Polly Bergen, a versatile Emmy-winning actress perhaps best known as the terrorized wife in the original Cape Fear movie as well as portraying the first woman president in Kisses for My President, died from natural causes in her Southbury, Conn., home on Sept. 20. She was 84. A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Ms. Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas, including the 1983 epic The Winds of War, and during the 1950s she became a regular on the popular game show To Tell the Truth. She also hosted her own variety series and founded a thriving beauty products company that bore her name. In recent years, she played Felicity Huffman's mother on Desperate Housewives and the past mistress of Tony Soprano's late father on The Sopranos. Ms. Bergen won an Emmy in 1958 portraying the tragic singer Helen Morgan on the famed anthology series Playhouse 90, and was nominated for another Emmy in 1989 for best supporting actress in a miniseries or special for War and Remembrance. She also battled emphysema and other ailments in the late 1990s, a result of 50 years of smoking. She is survived by her children Peter Fields, Kathy Lander and Pamela Fields and three grandchildren. - AP, 9/20/14...... Johnny Rotella, an accomplished instrumentalist and songwriter who wrote the Frank Sinatra standard "Nothing but the Best" and recorded with such artists as Neil Diamond, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan and others, died peacefully in his sleep in Van Nuys, Calif., on Sept. 11. He was 93. Mr. Rotella, a master of the clarinet, saxophone and flute, played with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman's big bands, was featured on the twin altos with the Billy Vaughn Orchestra and worked in many sessions with top-notch composer/arrangers Jimmie Haskell, Earle Hagen and Buddy Baker. He was a band regular on the 1970s CBS variety series The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and contributed to TVs I Spy and the first two The Godfather films. He also played in the orchestra for Broadway shows and Los Angeles theater productions. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien will pay tribute to late former Beatle George Harrison on O'Brien's Conan show during the week of Sept. 22-25 in conjunction with the release of the new Harrison box set The Apple Years 1968-75. Performing live versions of Harrison songs will be such acts as Beck, Norah Jones as well as Harrison's only child, Dhani Harrison. The Apple Years 1968-75 is a reissue of Harrison's first six solo albums for Apple Records and includes a special DVD with a previously unseen seven-minute film. Conan airs Mondays through Thursdays at 11:00 p.m. ET on TBS. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/12/14...... In other Beatles-related news, Yoko Ono visited the East Harlem school on Sept. 15 along with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a mobile studio that's gone around the world since 1998, letting kids learn about songwriting, recording, and music videos, with many getting the opportunity to lay down their own tracks. "Many, many things are happening now in our society, but if you keep smiling, that's going to change the world," Ono, 81, told them. Decked out in a silver jacket, black fedora, and tennis sneakers, Yoko then read what she called an "affirmation" for the children, reminding them how they were "beautiful, intelligent (and) healthy in my body and in my mind." The bus travels 10 months a year and has several staff members living on it, and while in NYC it will stop at schools in all five boroughs, finishing up on Oct. 9, what would have been Lennon's 74th birthday. - Billboard, 9/13/14...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Paul McCartney and his fashion designer daughter Stella caused a stir as they sat down to watch the catwalk show staged in London on Sept. 13 by Hunter Original, squeezing in next to pop star Rita Ora and Vogue editor Anna Wintour. The brand, best known for its rubber wellington boots, is headed by Stella McCartney's husband Alasdhair Willis. Sir Paul arrived at the last minute, wearing a pink button-down shirt and a dark sports jacket. The former Beatle appeared cheerful, posing with his daughter and smiling mischievously for the cameras, and said the show was "terrific" at the end being whisked away by his security guards. - Billboard, 9/13/14.

Jeff Lynne fronted his old band Electric Light Orchestra for the first time on a UK stage in 28 years at BBC Radio 2's "Festival In A Day in Hyde Park" in London on Sept. 14. The reclusive Lynne had been talked into performing at the annual event by BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Chris Evans, who introduced the band with a specially created VT. Lynne headed a band that included original ELO keyboard player Richard Tandy and the BBC Concert Orchestra, who fleshed out his compositions with record-perfect renditions. After playing some of ELO's biggest singles, including "Evil Woman," "Showdown," "Strange Magic" and "Livin' Thing," Lynne seemed overwhelmed by the crowd's enthusiastic reaction, sticking two thumbs up at the audience. "Wow, fantastic," he said. "It's unbelievable this really. I haven't done anything like this for so long, I can't believe it." Later, Lynne paid tribute to his late bandmates from "the other group I was in," The Traveling Wilburys, dedicating the supergroup's "Handle With Care" to George Harrison and Roy Orbison. After encoring with "Roll Over Beethoven," the Birmingham-born Lynne departed telling the 50,000-strong crowd it was "the best fun we've ever had" and that "I'll do this again." - New Musical Express, 9/15/14.

Now simply using the moniker "Yusuf," Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) has announced he will release his first new music in five years this fall and perform six shows behind the new album in North America in early winter. Tell 'Em I'm Gone will drop via Sony Legacy on Oct. 27 as part of a new deal Yusuf struck with the label that will see future releases of new recordings, existing catalog titles, previously unreleased live material and new videos. Tell 'Em I'm Gone's 10 tracks are divided between new originals and covers of songs such as the blues classic "Big Boss Man," Edgar Winter's "Dying To Live" and Procol Harum's "The Devil Came From Kansas." The LP was recorded in Los Angeles, Dubai, Brussels and London with Rick Rubin co-producing, and guest players include Richard Thompson', blues harpist Charlie Musselwhite, Bonnie Prince Billy', the group Tinariwen' and guitarist Matt Sweeney. Yusuf/ Cat Stevens will begin his first North American tour in 35 years on Dec. 1 at Massey Hall in Toronto, also visiting Boston (12/4), New York City (12/7), Chicago (12/9), San Francisco (12/12) and Los Angeles (12/14). He also has eight dates on his "The Peace Train... Late Again" tour scheduled for November in Europe, beginning in London on Nov. 4. - Billboard, 9/15/14.

A long lost self-produced documentary from The Doors, Feast of Friends, will finally be getting a proper release four decades after it was created in 1968. Feast of Friends was filmed during the Doors' summer tour 46 years ago by director Paul Ferrara and funded by the band itself. But it was never completed after receiving generally negative reviews at film festivals and was eventually shelved due to singer Jim Morrison's legal problems from allegedly exposing himself to an audience in Miami. Previously only available to fans as poor-quality bootlegs (the grainy bootleg version that was until now the only way of seeing the film was purportedly Morrison's own which he left at a friend's house in a brown paper bag just days before his death), the cult fan favorite film has been remastered and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray beginning Nov. 11. The new version has been color-corrected and mastered in high definition by long-time Doors co-producer and engineer Bruce Botnick, who also remixed and remastered the soundtrack. It will also include the 1968 British documentary The Doors Are Open centered around the band's final performance at London's Roundhouse, also remastered and restored. - Rolling Stone, 9/15/14.

The 2014 edition of the Farm Aid benefit concert drew 20,000 fans to Raleigh, North Carolina's Walnut Creek Amphitheatre on Sept. 13 and featured such headliners as guitarist extraordinaire Jack White, bluesman Gary Clark Jr., and singer/songwriter Todd Snider. The event's four guiding stars -- Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews -- also performed and were joined by such returning Farm Aid favorites as Carlene Carter, Jamey Johnson, Jesse Lenat and members of Willie Nelson's extended musical clan, including his sons Lukas and Micah Nelson and Nelson's granddaughter, Raelyn Nelson. Now in its 29th year, Farm Aid is the longest-running concert for a cause in pop-music history. Meanwhile, Neal Young's annual Bridge School Benefit Concert will take place Oct. 25 and 26 at the Bay Area's Shoreline Amphitheatre. Headlined by Young, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Florence + the Machine, Norah Jones and Band of Horses, the show will also feature a set by Young's estranged wife Pegi Young, who will play with her backing band the Survivors. Organized by Neal and Pegi, the Bridge School Benefit Concert was first held in 1986 and has been held every year since, with the exception of 1987. The series raises money for the Bridge School nonprofit organization, which helps children with severe speech and physical impairments. - Billboard, 9/15/14...... Phil Collins will headline his first show in four years this fall when he plays the Miami Benefit Concert at the Fillmore Miami Beach to benefit his Little Dreams Foundation. Collins will headline the Dec. 6 gala fundraiser benefiting its Miami locale, which will also feature performances by two major Latin music acts: Italian singer Laura Pausini and Mexican star Alejandra Guzmn. The show, presented by Collins' ex wife Orianne Collins Mejjati and music technologist David Frangioni, will take place during Art Basel, the international art fair. ollins established the Little Dreams Foundation with Collins Mejjati in 2000 with the objective of helping children and teens with athletic and artistic talent fulfill their dreams. All proceeds will go Little Dreams' efforts in Florida. Last December, the organization opened up a Miami chapter, after Collins Mejjati and her children made the city their new home. Collins' last concert was The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 2010 at London's Royal Albert Hall on Nov. 17, 2010. - Billboard, 9/15/14...... An extinct "water pig with tactile lips" has been named after Mick Jagger by an educator at Wake University. The 19-million-year-old anthracotheres -- a species which has been likened to a kind of "long-legged pig" -- was named by Wake University Associate Professor Ellen Miller, a self-professed "huge Stones fan" who noted that the 19-million-year-old creature's "highly innervated muzzle with mobile and tactile lips" reminded her of Jagger. Recently discovered in Egypt thanks to the finding of pieces of fossilised jaw, it has been named Jaggermeryx naida, which means "Jagger's water nymph." Meanwhile, the real life Mick Jagger is among more than 200 celebrities to sign an open letter urging Scottish voters to keep Scotland as part of the United Kingdom. An independence referendum will be held on Sept. 18 which could see Scotland break away from the rest of the UK. The letter is part of the Let's Stay Together campaign that aims to give a voice to those who are not allowed to vote in the referendum. - New Musical Express, 9/11/14....... Shock-rockers Kiss shed their makeup and pulled out their acoustic guitars on Sept. 14 in Lake Oswego, Ore., to raise money for the renovation of the Oregon Military Museum. The museum is named for 93-year-old Brig. Gen. James B. Thayer, the father of current Kiss lead guitarist Tommy Thayer and a World War II hero who liberated a Nazi death camp. The museum is at the Oregon National Guard's Camp Withycombe in Clackamas. The renovation is expected to cost $15 million, and half has been raised. An auction before the 14-song concert, which closed with an unplugged version of "Rock and Roll All Nite," included one of Kiss guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley's guitars, fetching $20,000. Meanwhile, Kiss bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons is preparing to launch another reality show -- this one named Coliseum which challenges contestants to form rock bands with a winning musical voice and performance. Simmons, as the Rock Caesar, will ultimately decide with a thumb up or down who goes forward in the competition. "Coliseum is a no-holds-barred competition show between musical gladiators in the arena fighting to survive, fighting to be the champion, fighting to curry the favor of Rock Caesar," said Simmons in a statement. Simmons previously starred in A&E's Gene Simmons' Family Jewels and VH1's Gene Simmons' Rock School. AMC is also airing Simmons' and his bandmate Paul Stanley's reality show 4th and Loud.AP/The Hollywood Reporter, 9/15/14...... David Bowie has written the liner notes for an upcoming release by one of his biggest influences -- the Kinks. In a statement on his website, Bowie has released an excerpt from the sleeve notes of the forthcoming Kinks compilation The Essential Kinks with an image of him with Kinks frontman Ray Davies captioned, "I've never heard a Kinks song that I didn't like." "Of course, from their noisy and brash beginnings, The Kinks have come to stand for some of the most enduring and heart-clutching pop of all time," Bowie wrote. "They are in the gut of every British songwriter who followed them and are indisputably a cornerstone of everything pop and rock. I love 'em. The world loves 'em." The 48-track double album The Essential Kinks will be released on Oct.14 in North America and is a celebration of the band's 50th anniversary. - New Musical Express, 9/15/14...... Former U.F.O. and Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker will kick off a nationwide UK tour at the Newcastle O2 Academy on Dec. 10. Schenker will perform songs from the new album, which features the new single, "Lord Of The Lost And Lonely," plus all the MSG, UFO and Scorpions rock classics. The Bridge The Gap UK tour will feature Schenker's "Temple of Rock" band, comprising ex-Scorpions Herman Rarebell (drums) and Francis Buchholz (bass), Wayne Findlay (guitar, keyboards), and ex-Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. Schenker will also play Glasgow, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bilston, Norwich, Bristol and London during the tour, which wraps on Dec. 20. - Noble PR, 9/16/14.

Bob Crewe, the singer, songwriter, producer and label owner who created many of the Four Seasons' hits, discovered Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and was behind a few disco-era standards -- died on Sept. 11 at his home in Scarborough, Maine. He was 83. As a producer, Mr. Crewe used Frankie Valli's group the Four Lovers as backup singers before having them change their name to the Four Seasons and recording their first single, "Sherry," which hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1962. Mr. Crewe and Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio co-wrote the group's follow-up, "Big Girls Don't Cry," which also went to No. 1. As a writer and producer, Mr. Crewe had a hand in all the Four Seasons' hits, co-writing "Walk Like a Man" and "Rag Doll," as well as Valli's solo hit in 1967 "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," which peaked at No. 2 and was later covered by such artists as The Supremes, Julio Iglesias and Pet Shop Boys. In 1975, Valli's version of the Mr. Crewe-Kenny Nolan song "My Eyes Adored You" hit No. 1 on March 22. A week later, Mr. Crewe and Nolan's "Lady Marmalade," recorded by Labelle, replaced it atop the Billboard Hot 100, making it only the third time a songwriting team had replaced themselves at No. 1. A 2001 version of "Lady Maramalde," recorded by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink, would hit No. 1 in 2001. During the disco era of the mid- to late 1970s, Mr. Crewe formed the group Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, who had top 40 hits with "Get Dancin'" and "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo." His last song to reach the Hot 100 was Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack's "You're Looking Like Love to Me," which peaked at No. 58 in 1984. He recorded as a solo singer for MCA in 1961, but that took a backseat after he began working with Gaudio and the Four Seasons. After the Four Seasons had a string of hits, Mr. Crewe launched his own label, DynoVoice Records, and formed a vocal group, The Bob Crewe Generation, which had its biggest hit with "Music to Watch Girls By," which hit No. 15 in 1967. He also discovered Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and produced their three top 40 hits "Jenny Take a Ride," "Little Latin Lupe Lu" and "Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly." Mr. Crewe was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, and with his brother founded the Bob Crewe Foundation in 2009, which earlier in 2014 donated $3 million to the Maine College of Art in Portland to establish the Bob Crewe Program for Art and Music. Mr. Crewe had been living in an assisted living facility since sustaining a brain injury in a fall three years ago, one year after moving to Maine from Los Angeles. "He was a great friend and taught me many things, not only about music and the business, but about style and how to live," Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein said of Mr. Crewe, whom he has known for 50 years. "He had amazing talent, but equally amazing taste -- and he was a great painter to boot." - 9/12/14....... Joe Sample, a jazz pianist who had a successful solo career and also performed with numerous high-profile musicians as The Supremes, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King, Miles Davis and Steely Dan, died on Sept. 12 in Houston of undisclosed causes. Sample began his career as a member of music group Jazz Crusaders (which later became The Crusaders), and he remained with the group until its 1991 album. He has also released numerous solo albums through Warner Bros. Sample also co-wrote the song "One Day I'll Fly Away," which Nicole Kidman performed in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/13/14...... Tom Skeeter, a longtime music industry insider and owner of the legendary Sound City Studios, died on Sept. 12 of undisclosed causes. Sound City Studios, located in Van Nuys, Calif., is where a number of iconic acts recorded their music after being founded in 1969. Neil Young, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, Ronnie James Dio, Weezer, Foreigner, The Black Crowes, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash, among others, all went on to record music at the Los Angeles-based studio. In 2013, Sound City became the subject of a documentary, Sound City, directed by former Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl. Skeeter also co-managed pop singer Rick Springfield during his 1980s heyday, who tweeted that he was "a southern gentleman" upon hearing the news of his death. - Billboard, 9/13/14.

Neil Young posted live recording of a new song called "Who's Gonna Stand Up" to his official site on Sept. 10. An impassioned protest song in the tradition of his late 1960s and early 1970s work, "Who's Gonna Stand Up" was recorded at Liverpool's Echo Arena on July 13 during a show with his longtime collaborators Crazy Horse. The song, in which Young asks "Who's gonna stand up and save the earth?," was inspired by the recent pro-environment documentary Under the Influence, and the folk-rocker calls out corporations and politicians who he believes to be destroying the environment. Young has a handful of dates planned this fall, beginning with a Sept. 13 performance at the Farm Aid benefit concert in Raleigh, N.C. Meanwhile Young, who filed for divorce from his long-term partner Pegi Young in August after more than 36 years together, was photographed kissing and cuddling actress Daryl Hannah of Splash fame as the pair walked to a restaurant in Westlake, Calif., on Sept. 9. Neil and Pegi Young have a grown-up daughter named Amber Jean, as well as a son from a previous relationship. A divorce hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 12. - Billboard/WENN.com, 9/11/14.

Barbra Streisand will make her first late-night TV show appearance in more than 50 years when she appears on The Tonight Show with host Jimmy Fallon on Sept. 15. On Sept. 10 Fallon announced the legendary singer and Oscar-winning actress will appear on the show in conjunction with the upcoming release of Streisand's new duets album Partners, which hits stores on Sept. 23. The album, co-produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmunds (Madonna) and Walter Afanasieff, features Streisand's duets with numerous high-profile vocalists, including Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Blake Shelton. In other Streisand-related news, satellite radio giant SiriusXM has announced it is launching an exclusive, limited-run station featuring the works of the diva on Sept. 12 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Fans can tune into The Barbra Streisand Channel on Sirius channel 69, XM channel 73 and the SiriusXM Internet Radio App through Oct. 10. The channel will feature live and studio recordings spanning Streisand's career, from her 1963 debut to Partners, as well as her personal song selections. There will also be a Town Hall special with Streisand in which she'll sit down for an intimate Q&A with SiriusXM listeners in New York. The Town Hall is set to air Sept. 14 at noon and will be available on demand after that. Meanwhile, a one time duet partner of Barbra Streisand's, Neil Diamond, held a listening party for his new LP Melody Road for a small gathering of music industry insiders at Capitol's Studio A in Hollywood on Sept. 8. The tracks previewed included "Something Blue," the most commercial of the songs, which has Diamond's classic mid-tempo lilt, and the ballads "The Art of Love" and "(Ooo) Do I Wanna Be Yours." Diamond says all the songs on the album are love songs in one way or another. "I don't understand (love) and I want to understand why it's so powerful," Diamond said. "I always want to ask that question and give an answer that suits me, whether it's true or not." Melody Road, set for release on Oct. 21, was co-produced by Don Was and Jacknife Lee. - The Hollywood Reporter/Billboard, 9/11/14.

As Stevie Wonder prepares to hit the road this fall with a Songs in the Key of Life Performance Tour, the legendary Motown artist says he thinks the mayor of Furguson, Mo. isn't seeing the full picture a month after an unarmed black 18-year-old named Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer in August."I don't know if the mayor has blinders on," Wonder said in an interview announcing the tour at the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live on Sept. 10. "But to say that he didn't know that there was a racial or cultural problem in the city is unfortunate." Wonder said he approved of how Pres. Barack Obama has responded to protests in the city following Brown's death last month. As the unrest drew worldwide attention, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles told reporters that there was no "racial divide" there. Wonder said his Songs in the Key of Life tour will include performances of new songs culled from the 40 to 50 tunes Wonder wrote for an upcoming album Through the Eyes of Wonder, and that he hopes to release the LP's title track as its first single in Feb. 2015. Wonder's 11-city Live Nation tour kicks off on Nov. 6 at New York's Madison Square Garden on Nov. 6, also visiting Washington, D.C. (11/9), Boston (11/11), Chicago (11/14), Philadelphia (11/16), Auburn Hills, Mich. (11/20), Atlanta (11/22), Toronto (11/25), Las Vegas (11/29), and Seattle (12/3) before wrapping in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 5. - AP/Billboard, 9/10/14.

A new exhibit showcasing country/pop singer Crystal Gayle has opened at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn., and will run through Nov. 3. Gayle's "When I Dream" exhibit takes it name from the "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" singer's 1979 hit single, and Gayle says looking back at her career gave her a chance to reflect. "It was incredible for me to look back onto my career. I saw all the things I've done, and I told a few people that it made me really tired," she joked. "Did I do all that? We went all over the world, and made so many wonderful friends. It seems like it was just yesterday." The exhibit contains many of Gayle's gold and platinum records, her Grammy for her 1977 chart-topper "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," and even a Mattel Crystal "Eagle" Gayle Air Force Barbie doll, which commemorated both her 1984 flight aboard an F-16 fighter and the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. Gayle is currently in the studio working on a yet-untitled album of some of her favorite classic country songs of all time. It's a family affair for the singer, who says, "It's a lot of fun being in the studio with my son Chris. He went to Belmont University, and he's really good at engineering. It's been great to work with him." Gayle also reminisced on the recording of her signature tune "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," which she says she nailed on the first try. "That was a first take. I did not re-sing it. It just fell into place beginning with Pig Robbins' opening work on the piano. It was magic in the studio that day." - Billboard, 9/9/14...... Elsewhere on the '70s country/pop scene, Glen Campbell has announced the release date of his final recorded song, titled "I'm Not Gonna Miss You." In a press release announcing the soundtrack for the upcoming documentary Glen Cambell: I'll Be Me, Campbell says that his latest recording for the soundtrack's EP will be his last. "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," was written by Campbell with Julian Raymond and addresses his struggles with Alzheimer's, with which the legendary singer was diagnosed in 2011. The Band Perry and Glen's daughter Ashley Campbell are also featured on the five-song EP, arriving Sept. 30, almost a month before the film's Oct. 24 release date. Such famous artists as Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift will appear in I'll Be Me to pay tribute to the "Rhinestone Cowboy" singer. - Billboard, 9/8/14.

In a new interview with Billboard magazine, Keith Richards hints that he may be releasing a new solo album next summer. Stating that the record is already "finished," Richards goes on to say that he "doesn't want to put it out while the [Rolling] Stones are still working" and said it's tentatively slated for a June 2015 release. Richards also talked about plans for the Stones, who will tour Australia and New Zealand throughout October and November. "They've got South America lined up in February, Buenos Aires, Peru. And after that, I know what the Stones tours are like, they tend to get extended," he said. Richards is also promoting his new children's book, Gus & Me: The Story Of My Granddad And My First Guitar, which was released on Sept. 9. The book is the follow-up to his best-selling 2010 memoir Life, and he says "the initial idea did come from the publishers." "You know, 'Maybe Keith can sell a few more books,'" he says. "That's their business after all. Nine times out of 10 I would have said forget about it. I'm not going there. But because of the circumstances and having another grandchild, everything was sort of falling into place. I said, 'Damn it. Go for it.'" - New Musical Express, 9/9/14...... David Bowie has announced he'll release a new single, "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)," which will be featured on his upcoming career spanning CD release Nothing Has Changed (The Definitive Collection). "Sue" was recorded especially for the retrospective with Bowie's long-time collaborator Tony Visconti, and will be released as a limited edition 10" single and digital download. Both the album and new single will be released via Parlophone in the U.K. on Nov. 17, and the album, in 1CD, 2CD, 3CD and vinyl formats, and accompanying digital download will drop the following day in the U.S. through Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings. The physical single will be released In the U.S. on "Black Friday," Nov. 28, and the set will arrive in Australia on Nov. 21. "Sue" will be the first new Bowie material since the Thin White Duke released The Next Day in early 2013. Another retrospective Bowie four-CD box set Sound+Vision, spanning four decades and 21 albums from 1969's Space Oddity through to 1993 soundtrack The Buddha Of Suburbia, will be released Sept. 22. - Billboard, 9/10/14...... Paul McCartney's theme tune for the new computer game "Destiny" has been released online. McCartney worked with a 120 piece orchestra at London's Abbey Road Studios on the theme, which is set to be released as a single. The orchestra was conducted by Beatles producer George Martin's son Giles Martin and produced by Mark "Spike" Stent. Macca joined forces with the games company Bungie's in-house composer Marty O'Donnell and Mike Salvatori for the score of "Destiny," a first-person shooter now available for Playstation and Xbox. In July Sir Paul resumed his Out There tour, after taking almost two months off following a virus. - New Musical Express...... The Kinks have announced a new box set marking their 50th anniversary, The Anthology 1964-1971, will be released on Nov. 3. Featuring over 100 songs from the band's classic '60s and '70s material, as well as rare demos, session outtakes and alternate mixes, The Anthology will also include 25 previously unavailable tracks, interviews with the group, and a seven-inch single. Earlier in 2014, the band revealed that they had put their animosity behind them and were now working on new material. Frontman Ray Davies said that he and his brother, Dave Davies, had finally met in person to talk about the possibility of playing together again. - NME, 9/10/14...... Three of late soul singer Marvin Gaye's children filed a summary judgment papers in their lawsuit over Gaye's song "Got to Give It Up," in which they claim singer Robin Thicke and his producer Pharrell Williams used Gaye's instrumental track in their hit single "Blurred Lines." Nona Gaye, Frankie Gaye and Marvin Gaye III are pointing the judge to recorded depositions and media interviews given by Williams and Thicke, and have also submitted an audio mash-up that's intended to serve as "concrete musical illustrations of the substantial similarities" between the huge 2013 hit and Gaye's "Got to Give it Up." Williams and Thicke filed their preemptive lawsuit in August 2013 seeking a declaration of non-infringement. In July 2014, the plaintiffs suggested in their own summary judgment papers that the Gayes "smelled money" when asserting a copyright infringement. The Gaye children indeed fired counterclaims in October 2013, but they want it noted who sued first. A jury trial has been scheduled for Feb. 10, 2015. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/8/14...... Cher has postponed the second leg of her Dressed to Kill tour due to an "acute viral infection," a representative for the singer announced on Sept. 8. What was supposed to be the opening show in Albany, N.Y., on Sept. 11, will now take place on Oct. 6, according to spokesperson, and the Manchester, N.H., show that was to follow on Sept. 13 will now take place on Oct. 7. Cher has been ordered to be on full bed rest for several days since seeing doctors over the first weekend in September, necessitating the change in dates. The remainder of the tour is expected to stay the same. Ticket holders unable to attend the rescheduled dates will have refunds available. Cher's Dressed to Kill tour opened March 22 in Phoenix, Ariz. The diva's sell-out tour had grossed a reported $54.9 million through the end of its first leg on July 11. The tour is set to wrap on Nov. 19 in South Charleston, S.C. - Billboard, 9/8/14...... The Carole King Broadway musical "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" is set to begin a run on London's West End in 2015 with previews beginning on Feb. 10 at the Aldwych Theatre. "Beautiful" will later kick off a U.S. tour in September 2015 at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island, followed by a 12-week run at Chicago's Oriental Theatre as well as dates at the Pantages in Hollywood and in Durham, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C. Other engagements are also planned. The musical, which stars Jessie Mueller who won the Tony for her portrayal of the iconic singer-songwriter, depicts the emergence in the 1960s of King and her late husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin as a legendary pop songwriting team alongside their best friends and fellow tunesmiths, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/8/14...... Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters premiered his new documentary Roger Waters: The Wall at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 6. Waters told the audience he began working with co-director Sean Evans five years ago to update the show with a more ecumenical and anti-war approach. Since it kicked off four years ago in Toronto, the tour has grossed nearly $500 million. Waters also celebrated his 71st birthday on the same day, and fans began an an impromptu chorus of "Happy Birthday" as he walked out on stage to introduce the film. After the screening, Waters came back out for a post-film Q&A session to a standing ovation. A release date for the 133-minute documentary, which includes all 26 songs from Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall, is still seeking a distributor and a release date has not been set. - AP, 9/7/14...... During a recent online chat with fans on Facebook to promote new solo album, lullabye... and the Ceaseless Roar,Robert Plant said he would be "happy" to collaborate with former White Stripes mastermind Jack White on a new single. "I love Jack White's buccaneer spirit and the way he dodges through the musical horizons. I'd be happy to make a single with him," said Plant, who added that he'd "like to do a track called 'Love Me' which was originally recorded by The Phantom." Plant even noted he was going to Nashville, Tenn., where White owns and operates a recording studio, on Sept. 15, however he must have been unaware that White is scheduled to give a concert in Cleveland, Oh., on that date. Plant launched Lullaby... with a show at the iTunes Festival at London's Roundhouse on Sept. 8 that also featured five classics by his former band Led Zeppelin. The 85-minute, 12-song set featured four songs from Lullaby... as well as "Fixin' To Die Blues' from his 2002 album Dreamland and a cover of Willie Dixon's blues standard "Spoonful." - NME, 9/10/14...... Members of the Eagles and Cheap Trick will guest on a new album by alternative rock faves Foo Fighters. Joe Walsh of the Eagles and Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick contribute to the band's eight studio album, Sonic Highways, which is due Nov. 10. - NME, 9/10/14...... A classic animated Tom Waits music video called "Tom Waits For No One" is set to be restored for its 35th anniversary. Produced in 1979, "Tom Waits For No One" featured rotoscoping technology to capture the singer's movements before they were animated. In the video, Waits performs his song "The One That Got Away," a track from his 1976 album Small Change, and in the cartoon he is seduced on a Hollywood street by a female dancer. A Kickstarter.com campaign will launch later in September in order to help raise funds for the restoration of the video for an exhibition in Los Angeles in March 2015. Waits, who rarely performs live, played his first show in five years as part of Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in October 2013. - NME, 9/9/14...... Chic featuring Nile Rodgers have announced a one-off performance at London's Indigo at The O2 on Oct. 9. On Sept. 7, Chic closed out the UK's Bestival by breaking the record for the world's largest disco ball. "We are so happy to be here, you have no idea," Rodgers said at the start of the set, "and we're ready to break the world record." Once it was announced that the huge mirrorball hoisted from a crane in the center of the stage had fulfilled the requirements of being over ten meters in diameter and able to spin on its own, Chic took to the stage with Rodgers paying tribute to his guitar technician Terry Brauer, who died shortly before the event, by shouting "Terry! Terry!" Chic then played a set filled with such disco classics as "Everybody Dance," "Dance Dance Dance" and "'I Want Your Love." - NME, 9/8/14.

Actor Richard Keil, best known as the iconic James Bond villian "Jaws," passed away on Sept. 10 at a hospital in Fresno, Calif., after being admitted there a week ago with a broken leg. He was 74. A cause of death has not been released, and it is not known if the injury is connected to his death. The 7-foot-2-inch Kiel, who was born in Detroit in 1939, won over audiences worldwide in the 1970s as the steel-toothed character Jaws in the Roger Moore Bond classics The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Kiel also appeared in a handful of B-movies and of TV shows -- including four episodes of The Wild Wild West in 1965 -- in supporting, henchman roles that took advantage of his intimidating height. He first appeared as a metal-mouthed bad guy in Silver Streak, the 1976 Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor train caper, but it was the Bond movies that made him most familiar to moviegoers. Kiel first encountered Moore's James Bond in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me, where his silent hitman Jaws repeatedly menaced Bond with his sharp metal teeth. Although repeatedly thwarted by the British spy, Jaws proved resilient and even sort of likable: Near the movie's end he survived a brush with a killer shark by biting the creature. Jaws was such a popular character that the producers of the Bond series brought him back two years later for Moonraker, which was set partly in space. He and Bond battled each other in a opening skydiving sequence and in a memorable scene atop an aerial tram in Rio de Janeiro. Later, Jaws switched allegiances to Bond upon learning that his employer, the villain Drax, planned to exterminate him. In later years, Kiel turned his hand to writing and producing as well as acting, including in the 1991 movie The Giant of Thunder Mountain, and he also had a small role in the 1996 Adam Sandler golf comedy Happy Gilmore. "Richard Kiel was one of the nicest, funniest guys I've ever met. I'll never forget hanging out with him & how good he was to everyone," Adam Sandler tweeted after learning of his death. - CNN, 9/11/14...... Gerald Wilson, a dynamic jazz musician and big band leader whose career spanned more than 75 years, died on Sept. 8 at his Los Angeles home from pnuemonia. He was 96. Mr. Wilson, native of Shelby, Miss., began his career in the 1930s as a trumpeter for Jimmy Lunceford's band before forming his own group in 1944. He played and composed music with the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, and he arranged music for Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan and Bobby Darin. Mr. Wilson, a constant presence at events such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, received six Grammy nominations throughout his career, including nods in 1999 and 2004 for best large jazz ensemble for "Theme For Monterey" and "New York, New Sound." He later taught jazz at California State University, Northridge; California State University, Los Angeles; and University of California, Los Angeles. - AP, 9/9/14.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Not since Queen recorded the soundtrack to Flash Gordon in the early Eighties has a sci-fi movie been as full of pop music as Guardians of the Galaxy. As a child in the Eighties, Peter "Star-Lord" Quill (Chris Pratt) gets a mixtape from his mom, who's dying of cancer. The cassette becomes the soundtrack to his adult life -- and the film. "The tape is really the character of Quill's mother," says director James Gunn. So Gunn picked tunes she would have liked: "David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream," the Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" and the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," as well as ear candy by acts like the Raspberries and Blue Swede. A week after its release in late July, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 topped the Billboard Hot 200 album charts, the first-ever soundtrack without any new songs to hit Number One. Gunn's song choices weren't met warmly by everyone. "One of the Marvel folks kept saying we were crazy to put Seventies songs in the movie, that it was going to alienate kids," he says. I guess he thought Quill should have downloaded Beyoncé and Kesha off iTunes. Now I see kids singing 'Hooked on a Feeling.'" - Rolling Stone, 9/11/14.

A celebrity photographer who took the image of the back of Rod Stewart's head that adorned the rocker's 1989 greatest hits album has filed a lawsuit against Stewart for using that same image as the centerpiece of his 2014 comeback tour. According to photographer Bonnie Schiffman's suit which was filed in California federal court on Sept. 4, the image was created by her in 1981 and it featured the back of Rod Stewart's head and shoulders. Stewart's "signature bouffant hair style" made it memorable and the choice for Stewart's Storyteller album, released by Warner Bros. Records, the suit goes on to say. The photo was licensed non-exclusively back then, and now a "replicate image, an unmistakable copy" of that image is impermissible as the "centerpiece" of Stewart's new Las Vegas show without her authorization. Schiffman is seeking injunctive relief and not less than $2.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Stewart's reps haven't yet responded to a request for comment about the lawsuit. Meanwhile, Stewart has announced his "The Hits Tour" will be heading to Australia and New Zealand in 2015. Stewart will play arenas and wineries on his trek, which includes his first-ever show in Dunedin, a student town in NZ's South Island. According to promoters Frontier Touring, the 9-date tour will kick off March 21 in Perth, also visiting Melbourne (3/24), Macedon (3/28), Adelaide (3/29), Sydney (4/1), Hunter Valley in Hope Estate (4/5), Brisbane (4/7), and Dunedin (4/11) before wrapping in Auckland on April 13. - The Hollywood Reporter/Billboard, 9/5/14.

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has declared rock music to be "finally dead" due to record labels failing to adequately support rock artists. In an interview published by Esquire magazine and conducted by his son Nick Simmons, Simmons was robust in his criticism of the music industry, asserting that rock artists don't receive the same support from record companies that they did in the sixties and seventies. When asked what he would say to young musicians and songwriters today, Simmons affirmed, "Don't quit your day job is a good piece of advice. When I was coming up, it was not an insurmountable mountain. Once you had a record company on your side, they would fund you, and that also meant when you toured they would give you tour support. There was an entire industry to help the next Beatles, Stones, Prince, Hendrix, to prop them up and support them every step of the way. There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters -- the creators -- for rock music, for soul, for the blues -- it's finally dead. Rock is finally dead." Simmons also attributed part of rock's demise to illegal file-sharing and artists struggling to make money from their work. "The masses do not recognise file-sharing and downloading as stealing because there's a copy left behind for you -- it's not that copy that's the problem, it's the other one that someone received but didn't pay for," he said. "The problem is that nobody will pay you for the 10,000 hours you put in to create what you created. I can only imagine the frustration of all that work, and having no one value it enough to pay you for it." Back in 2010, Simmons accused the music industry of being "asleep at the wheel," saying "they didn't have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we're left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There's no industry." - Esquire/New Musical Express, 9/5/14.

Bob Marley and the Wailers' 30-year-old greatest hits album Legend is on course to make the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart for the first time for the first week of September due to a discounting of the album in the Google Play store to 99 cents. Normally, the album sells for around $8. Industry sources forecast the album to sell between 20,000 to 24,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 7 -- with the bulk of those sales coming from Google. The album, which was released in 1984, has been a steady seller for years, but has never visited the top 10. Upon its release in 1984, Legend initially reached No. 54 on the Billboard 200 chart that year, but went on to chart a lengthy run on the list and continued to sell well as the years -- and decades -- went by. The album regularly sells between 3,000 and 5,000 a week, and reached a peak of No. 18 in 2012. On the Sept. 13 chart, the album ranked at No. 100 with 3,000 in sales for the week ending Aug. 31, according to SoundScan. If Legend does make the top 10, it will mark Marley's second top 10 album, following 1976's Rastaman Vibration. It peaked at No. 8 on the July 4, 1976-dated chart. - Billboard, 9/5/14...... Bruce Springsteen is set to make his acting debut on the next season of Netflix's original series Lilyhammer. The show, which is headed into its third season, stars Springsteen's E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt as a former mobster relocated to Norway by the Federal Witness Protection Program after testifying against his mafia cohorts. According to DeadlineHollywood.com, Springsteen will join the show for a guest appearance as a mortuary owner. Also, Van Zandt's Sopranos co-star Tony Sirico is said to be joining on with a recurring role as a priest. The Lilyhammer gig will marke Springsteen's true acting debut. Though he appeared in the film High Fidelity, he played himself. - Billboard, 9/5/14...... In other Springsteen-related news, Rutgers University will be offering a college course on The Boss beginning this fall. In the "Bruce Springsteen Theology Course," students will be able to explore 40 years of the singer's iconic lyrics. Other artist-specific courses available at American institutions of higher learning this fall include courses on the Beatles (UCLA), David Bowie (University of Southern Maine), and Michael Jackson (Clark Atlanta University). - Billboard, 9/2/14

George Harrison will be honored with an all-star tribute concert at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on Sept. 28. Featuring performances by Brian Wilson, Norah Jones, Ann Wilson of Heart, "Weird Al" Yankovic," and key members of the bands the Flaming Lips and the Killers, the event will benefit professional musicians in need of medical care or financial assistance. Dhani Harrison, George Harrison's son, will also perform. It will be hosted by the Best Fest, which previously produced similar events in honor of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones. - Billboard, 9/4/14...... In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr is speaking out over the use of the Beatles' name being used as nicknames for British jihadis in Syria involved in the recent ghastly executions of American journalists. Ringo says he is "saddened" that the fanatics -- led by a man dubbed "Jihadi John" who is suspected of beheading two American journalists -- had been labelled with the names of the Fab Four. "It's bullshit," Ringo told the London Evening Standard. "What they are doing out there is against everything the Beatles stood for." Starr added that he was powerless to prevent the names of the band or his bandmates being attached to the fanatics. "If we stood for anything we never stood for that. The four of us absolutely stood for peace and love. But we are not in control," he said. "Jihadi John" is currently being hunted by US forces after also threatening on video to behead British hostage David Haines. - The Evening Standard...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, a 29-minute jam session of Paul McCartney performing with actor Johnny Depp and a group of blues guitarists has been made available on McCartney's YouTube channel. It is Depp's third appearance in a Macca music video (after "My Valentine" and "Queenie Eye"). In the clip, Roy Gaines, Al Williams, Dale Atkins, Henree Harris, Motown Maurice and Lil Poochie, trade licks and sharie lead vocals with each other and the former Beatle. Depp doesn't do any singing, but McCartney takes on Carl Perkins' "Matchbox" (a song the Beatles covered) during the session. - Billboard, 9/5/14

'70s disco legend Sylvester is being remembered with a new off-Broadway musical in New York and newly-unveiled space on the Rainbow Honor Walk in San Francisco's Castro District. On Sept. 5, the curtains opened on "Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical, created by Anthony Wayne and Kendrell Bowman. "I think we live in an era now where it's all about being free and being yourself, and Sylvester was a trailblazer for that," says Wayne. "Before there was RuPaul, before there was Adam Lambert, there was Sylvester. And so we're really excited to bring this forward because the moral of this show is to know that you can leave up out of this theater being yourself and to know that yourself is more than enough, just like Sylvester did. The time period is now for this story to really be out there." "From the music standpoint, I think people are getting tired of the same type of music that's in our generation right now," adds Bowman. "People are not making music that really makes you feel good, that when you turn on the song it really makes you want to dance and feel good about life. So now, with all the social issues that are going on with the world, this is [bringing back] an era that made people feel good and without any problems in life." Sylvester is the only musician to be a part of the Rainbow Walk in San Francisco, a hall of fame type series of plaques honoring gay icons such as Oscar Wilde and Frida Kahlo, and his tribute has been in the making for three years. The L.A.-born Sylvester (James) moved to San Francisco in 1967, and appeared in the 1979 film The Rose. His three Billboard Top 40 hits include "Dance (Disco Heat)" (#19, 1978), "You Make Me Feel (Mighty High)" (#36, 1979) and "I (Who Have Nothing)" (#40, 1979). He died of AIDS-related complications at age 40 in 1988. - Billboard, 9/5/14.

A collection of outlaw country singer Waylon Jennings' belongings will go on public auction this fall, including a rare 1958 motorcycle originally owned by Buddy Holly and locks of Willie Nelson's braided hair. New York City-based auction house Guernsey's will hold the auction of over 2,000 items Oct. 5 at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Jennings' widow, Jessi Colter, said she was first approached by the auction house about selling the motorcycle, a red Ariel Cyclone, which was given to Jennings as a birthday gift and he kept the prized possession in his living room. Jennings later teamed up with Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Nelson in The Highwaymen. The original contract forming the country supergroup, signed by all four members, is also up for sale. The braids were a gift from Nelson who cut them off as a sign of support for Jennings' sobriety. Jennings, who died in 2002 at age 64, started his career playing in Holly's band, and almost became a passenger in the doomed plane that killed Holly in 1959. - AP, 9/4/14...... Former The Police frontman Sting and R&B legend Al Green are among five artists receiving this year's prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, the national awards for influencing American culture through the arts. Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin and ballerina Patricia McBride will also receive the honor during the ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7. The show will be broadcast Dec. 30 on CBS. - AP, 9/4/14...... Seventies heartthrob David Cassidy pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated in upstate New York. Cassidy, 64, made the plea in exchange for a tentative sentence of a conditional discharge that includes 50 hours of community service in Florida, his home state. Sentencing was set for Nov. 5 and depends on a pre-sentence report. If the judge approves the sentencing recommendations, Cassidy would be required instead to complete 50 hours of community service and to have an interlock ignition system installed on vehicles he owns in both New York and Florida. In March, a judge in Los Angeles sentenced the former The Partridge Family actor and singer to three months in rehab and five years of probation in a drunken-driving case stemming from a January 2014 arrest for an illegal turn. Cassidy was convicted of driving while intoxicated in Florida in 2011. His license was suspended and he served one year of probation in that case. Cassidy spends time in New York during the summer at Saratoga Race Course, 40 miles north of Schodack. - AP, 9/4/14....... British fashion designer Paul Smith is developing a range of scarves inspired by Led Zeppelin album covers. Each of the scarves will enjoy a limited edition run of 50 and will be available at PaulSmith.co.uk and Paul Smith's Covent Garden outlet in central London. In other fashion news, the 1970s are a big inspiration for next spring's collections, according to Lizzy Bowring of WGSN, the official trend sponsor for the New York Fashion week which runs from Sept. 4 to 11. "The idea is to get back into yesteryear but add a contemporary twist with a fresh modern appeal," Bowring says. Pants will take up a slight flare, and just as Diane Keaton notably catapulted menswear into the spotlight in 1977's Annie Hall, so will the fashion-forward in spring 2015. Bowring says one of the big themes will be a "fuss-free approach of androgyny": Think sleek, sophisticated jumpsuits and/or tailored jackets paired with relaxed wide-leg trousers. - Billboard/CNN, 9/1/14...... Comedienne Joan Rivers died in a New York hospital on Sept. 4, following serious complications -- including cardiac arrest -- during a medical procedure the week before. She was 81. Ms. Rivers had been on life support at Manhattan's Mount Sinai hospital, where she was taken after she stopped breathing at the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic on Aug. 28. She was undergoing an apparently minor elective procedure at the clinic when she suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest, according to the New York Fire Department. Paramedics took her by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital, about a mile from the clinic, where she was initially listed in critical condition. Ms. Rivers first came to prominence on the Johnny Carson-hosted The Tonight Show in 1965 and appeared on that show more than 70 times. She became a permanent substitute Tonight Show host until a feud began between her and Carson after Ms. Rivers' began her own late-night talk show on rival network Fox in 1986. She later went on to host a successful daytime show, The Joan Rivers Show from 1989 to 1993, which won her a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Her out-spoken commentary on celebrities and politics was both praised and criticized as being truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Ms. Rivers authored 12 best-selling memoir and humor books, and many comedy albums, and most recently co-hosted the E! channel show Fashion Police. She also co-wrote the well-received 1973 TV movie The Girl Most Likely to..., about a plain girl made beautiful by plastic surgery and exacts deadly revenge on everyone who was cruel to her. "She was unapologetic and fiercely dedicated to entertaining all of us and has left an indelible mark on the people that worked with her and on her legions of fans," said E! and NBCUniversal studios in a statement. "She's been a much beloved member of the E! family for over 20 years and the world is less funny without her in it. Today our hearts are heavy knowing Joan will not be bounding through the doors." Ms. Rivers, the subject of a 2010 documentary about her life, titled Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, is survived by her daughter, Melissa Rivers. - CNN, 9/4/14...... The Allman Brothers Band, who have announced that they're calling it quits after 2014, played two of their last gigs ever at their Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Penn., in August. One of the sets included all of 1972's Eat a Peach. "Revisiting that album is always heavy," Gregg Allman says of Peach, their first LP released afer the death of guitarist Duane Allman in 1971. Coming up: six farewell gigs at New York's Beacon Theatre in October. - Rolling Stone...... Longtime Chicago radio and TV personality Roy Leonard, who was well known around the Midwest for his decades of talk radio, celebrity interviews and movie reviews on Chicago's WGN radio and TV stations, died on Sept. 4 at Evanston Hospital, north of Chicago. He was 83. Mr. Leonard's three-decade run at WGN was marked by interviews with an array of entertainers, ranging from the mime Marcel Marceau to Tom Cruise. Mr. Leonard had been in the hospital for several weeks with respiratory and other health problems, according to his son Kelly Leonard. When it became clear he would soon pass away, Leonard's family gathered around him, listening to one of his favorite jazz artists, Dave Brubeck, on an iPad and waiting for a priest to give him last rites. "He always read the book before he saw the movie; he did his research, and then he let a conversation happen. He didn't try to pre-plan everything," Kelly Leonard said. - AP, 9/5/14...... David Anderle, the A&R executive who worked with Frank Zappa, the Beach Boys, Sheryl Crow and Aaron Neville during a 35-year career, died on Sept. 1 of cancer at his Los Angeles home. He was 77. In 1964, Anderle became West Coast talent director at MGM, which owned Verve Records at the time. After seeing Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1965, Anderle pushed to get the act signed to the label, but met considerable resistance within Verve. Anderle convinced label head Tom Wilson to sign the Mothers and produce their album. As the manager of Van Dyke Parks, Anderle became ensconced in Brian Wilson's world in 1966 at the time of Pet Sounds and helped the Beach Boys create their own record label, Brothers Records, which he ran in its early days. In 1968, he moved to Elektra as West Coast operations director, where he produced David Ackles, worked with Judy Collins on her repertoire, and dealt with the label's rock acts such as the Doors and Love. He also worked as a music supervisor on the films Good Morning, Vietnam, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Scrooged. - Billboard, 9/2/14.

Paul McCartney has signed an open letter calling on Scottish voters to choose to remain part of the United Kingdom in a vote on independence that is set to take place on Sept. 18. Sir Paul, along with such famous fellow Brits as the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, actress Dame Jude Dench and TV producer Simon Cowell, have signed the letter which is part of a campaign to "give a voice to everyone who doesn't have a vote in the decision to break up Britain." Only Scots currently residing in Scotland and at least 16 years of age will be eligible to vote on the referendum, however those Scots living outside the country, nor residents England, Wales and Northern Ireland, can vote. Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom for more than 300 years, and the letter says that "the decision will have a huge effect on all of us in the rest of the United Kingdom." McCartney, who owns a farm in Scotland, co-wrote the hit song "Mull of Kintyre" there in 1977 with his post-Beatles band Wings. In an interview with the UK's Evening Standard paper, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, said that "Scotland can get a bit more autonomy and self-control, but complete independence might be a bit much to handle." British Prime Minister David Cameron backed the appeal of the anti-separatists in a speech on Aug. 28 to business leaders in Glasgow. Meanwhile in other Beatles-related news, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono has announced the 2014 recipients of the biennial Lennon Ono Grand for Peace: Jan Wenner, co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine; Jeremy Gilley, founder of the non-profit organization Peace One Day; former Mayor of Reykjavik Jan Gnarr, and Doreen Remen and Yvonne Force Villareal on behalf of the Art Production Fund. The award, which has been presented every two years since 2002, is traditionally awarded to people who Ono feels embody "the work that John and [she] tried to do together." The awards will be presented during a ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland on Oct. 9 -- Lennon's birthday. In 2013, Yoko Ono was made an honorary citizen of Reykjavik for her "outstanding work in pointing the light of peace" to the city. In other Lennon-related news, the transcript of Lennon killer Mark David Chapman's eighth parole hearing on Aug. 20 has been released, and the 59-year-old Chapman admitted that he's "an idiot" for murdering Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980. "I am sorry for causing that type of pain. I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory," Chapman told the three-member parole board. "Many, many people loved him. He was a great and talented man and they are still hurting. I get letters so that's a major factor. It's not a regular crime," said Chapman, who told the board that he would understand if they denied him release based solely on the number of people he hurt. Chapman, who is at the Wende Correctional Facility, east of Buffalo, can try again for release in two years. - CNN/New Musical Express, 8/30/14.

A new graphic novel based on Bruce Springsteen's song "Outlaw Pete" will be released on Nov. 4 and feature words by Springsteen and illustrations by Frank Caruso. "Outlaw Pete," a track on Springsteen's 2009 album Working on a Dream, was itself inspired by the 1950 children's book Brave Cowboy Bill. "Outlaw Pete is based on the celebrated song about a bank-robbing baby whose exploits become a meditation on sin, fate, and free will," according to a press release from the book's publisher, Simon & Shuster. Springsteen has said that the song is "essentially the story of a man trying to outlive and outrun his sins." Illustrator Caruso has said of the project: "When Bruce wrote 'Outlaw Pete' he didn't just write a great song, he created a great character. The first time I heard the song this book played out in my head. Like Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Dorothy Gale and, for me, even Popeye, Outlaw Pete cuts deep into the folklore of our country and weaves its way into the fabric of great American literary characters." Springsteen released his 18th LP, High Hopes, in Jan. 2014. It featured a mixture of out-takes, covers and reworked old songs taken from his extensive back catalog. - New Musical Express, 8/28/14.

Motown legend Smokey Robinson has scored his highest-charting album in 33 years with Smokey & Friends. The all-star collaborations album, featuring duets with such artists as Elton John, Steven Tyler and Mary J. Blige on a dozen of Robinson's own tunes, debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart for the week ending Aug. 29 with 14,000 sold. The LP is also Robinson's highest-charting release since 1981, when Being With You climbed to No. 10 on the chart dated June 6, 1981. Robinson first appeared on a Billboard chart back on Oct. 5, 1959, as part of the R&B group The Miracles, with "Bad Girl." With The Miracles, Robinson enjoyed Hot 100 hits such as "Shop Around" (No. 2 in 1961), "I Second That Emotion" (No. 4 in 1967) and "The Tears of a Clown" (No. 1 in 1970). Meanwhile, former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley has netted his highest-charting album ever on the Billboard Hot 200, and his first top 10, as Space Invader debuted at No. 9 with 19,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Frehley is the first Kiss member to chart a top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as a soloist. The group's Gene Simmons previously held the high-water mark, when his eponymous set reached No. 22 in 1979. Space Invader also bowed at No. 1 on the Hard Rock Albums and the Tastemakers chart, and at No. 2 on Top Rock Albums chart. The new LP is Frehley's first since 2009's Anomaly, which debuted and peaked at No. 27. Frehley, 63, left Kiss in 1982 but rejoined the group from 1996 through 2002. After his 1978 solo set, he formed the band Frehley's Comet and released the group's self-titled debut in 1987 and Trouble Walkin' in 1989. Robinson and Frehley's successes come as weekly album sales in the US have reportedly plummeted to their lowest since Nielson SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, according to Billboard. A total of 3.97 million albums were sold in the US during the last week of August, which is the lowest weekly sum since records began in 1991. It's also the first time weekly sales have dropped below four million. An unnamed record label sales executive attributed the fall to the growth of streaming: "Sales have been going in the wrong direction all year. I guess its overdue, when you look at [the growth of streaming]."- Billboard, 8/29/14.

A federal appeals court has ruled that an Iowa woman who claims rocker Sammy Hagar fathered her baby 25 years ago may sue him for libel, invasion of privacy, and breach of contract. On Aug. 28, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, may sue the former Van Halen frontman for allegations in his 2011 memoir. The lawsuit had been dismissed last year by a federal judge, but the appeals court says the woman has established facts a jury should decide. The woman, a former Playboy bunny, claims she had Hagar's baby, and that infant died shortly after birth in 1989. Hagar has denied he was the father, and questioned whether she even had a baby and has accused her of extortion. - AP...... ZZ Top has cancelled two weeks of dates on their current American summer tour after bassist Dusty Hill fell on the band's bus on Aug. 26 and injured his hip. The mishap occurred as ZZ Top was on its way to Clarkston, Mich. to play at the DTE Energy Music Theatre on a co-headlining stint with Jeff Beck. Tour promoter Live Nation said the 65-year-old Hill required "immediate attention" to his injury after the fall. ZZ Top had 13 more shows with Jeff Beck left to go on the tour they launched Aug. 8. Refunds are being offered for the cancelled shows. - Billboard...... Neil Young is rumoured to be preparing a new studio album entitled Storytone for release in November. Young fans posting on the site foreverneilyoung.tumblr.com note that German composer and producer Chris Walden had updated his "recent projects" to include an "upcoming Neil Young album Storytone (out Nov 4)." Young has expressed an interest in recording an orchestral-based album. "I'd like to make a record with a full-blown orchestra, live -- a mono recording with one mic," he told Billboard earlier in 2014. - NME...... Former Police frontman Sting is reportedly charging fans 200 a day to pick grapes and olives on his Italian estate in Tuscany. Tourists are able to work with laborers at the 900-acre Il Palagio estate, with a charge of 208 lira applicable to anybody wanting to get involved. Sting, who is estimated to be worth $180 million, purchased the property in 1999 and sells produce created there. - NME...... TimeLife.com just released The Midnight Special Collector's Edition on DVD, featuring almost ten hours of performances, 130 songs, plus almost five hours of bonus features including brand-new interviews....... Comedienne Joan Rivers was hospitalized on Aug. 28 after going into cardiac arrest at a New York City doctor's office during a procedure to remove a cyst in her throat and is reportedly being kept alive solely by life support machines. Rivers, 81, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and her daughter Melissa Rivers said in a statement on Aug. 31 that "we are keeping our fingers crossed" and thanked people for expressing their support. - AP...... In a new interview with New York magazine, former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant said that he does not like the fact that Zeppelin albums are available to stream on Spotify, because he feels the sound quality on the streaming service is "a hell of a compromise." When asked whether it bothers him that the original recordings are now being listened to in compressed audio, Plant replied: "I don't champion too many things, but I do champion the sound of music. It's a hell of a compromise. For example, with [his new solo LP] lullabye... and the Ceaseless Roar -- never mind Zeppelin -- I spent a lot of time making sure the vinyl sounds really good, so people have that option. But it is slightly heartbreaking to think that anything can be dismissed sonically and put to the sword by the confines digitalised, computerised sound reproduction. It's hell." Meanwhile in other LedZep news, a new trailer for the upcoming reissue of Led Zeppelin IV has been released that features a rare version of "Black Dog," which will be included on the expanded edition. The clip features archive performance footage, vintage press shots, vintage advertising material and detail from the album's cover. Led Zeppelin IV, along with Houses of the Holy, will be reissued in 2-disc expanded editions on Oct. 27. Earlier in 2014, expanded editions of Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III were released. - NME...... Glenn Cornick, the original bass player in Jethro Tull before the band achieved international success in the early '70s, died of congestive heart failure at his home in Hilo, Hawaii, on Aug. 28. He was 67. Cornick performed with Jethro Tull from its inception in late 1967 until 1970, and according to his son Drew Cornick had been receiving hospice care. "(Glenn) brought bravado to Jethro Tull's early stage performance (and) made considerable contributions to the music scene," Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson posted on the band's website. - AP